NATO general warns of further Russian aggression

Ukrainian police block a government building entrance during a pro-Russian rally in Donetsk amid Western worries based on Russian troop buildup.

Photo: Sergei Grits / Associated Press

SIMFEROPOL, Crimea — U.S. and Ukrainian officials warned Sunday that Russia might be poised to expand its territorial conquest into eastern Ukraine and beyond, with a senior NATO official saying Moscow might even order its troops to cross Ukraine to reach Moldova.

The warnings came as Russia was finalizing its takeover of Ukrainian military bases in Crimea, the peninsula it occupied at the start of March and subsequently annexed.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya, appearing on ABC's “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” said the prospect of war with Russia is growing.

“We don't know what Russian President Vladimir Putin has in his mind and what would be his decision,” Deshchytsya said. “That's why this situation is becoming even more explosive than it used to be a week ago.”

In Brussels, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Europe, said Russia had assembled a large force on Ukraine's eastern border that could be planning to head for Moldova's separatist Transnistria region.

Ukrainian officials have been warning for weeks that Russia is trying to provoke a conflict in eastern Ukraine, a charge that Russia denies. But Breedlove said Russian ambitions do not stop there.

“There is absolutely sufficient force postured on the eastern border of Ukraine to run to Transnistria if the decision was made to do that, and that is very worrisome,” Breedlove said.

Russian news services quoted Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov as saying Sunday that Russia is complying with all international agreements on troop limits near its border with Ukraine.

Russia's forces are on the verge of completing a methodical takeover of Ukrainian military bases scattered across Crimea. Russia's Defense Ministry said Saturday that the Russian flag is flying over 189 military installations on the peninsula. The last base that was functioning under full Ukrainian authority came under Moscow's control Saturday, when Russian troops stormed an air base at Belbek outside the port city of Sevastopol.

Citizens of Crimea voted overwhelmingly in a referendum March 16 to join Russia.

On Sunday, Putin ordered that police, civil defense, domestic intelligence and other governmental structures in Crimea must follow Russian law and procedures by March 29.